APM Terminal at JNPT back to normal
APM Terminals said that the container handling terminal has restored normalcy and its employees have started work after a majority of employees went on a strike since May 31 following the company's decision to hire more employees for senior positions from outside, reported The Economic Times.
"We have restored normalcy at the terminal with the help of willing workers and staff. Being India's busiest container terminal, a situation like this has direct impact on the Indian containerised cargo traffic", said Dinesh Lal, chairman, APM Terminals Mumbai
The strike called by the employees had led to the shutting down of operations and congestion at the terminal leading to major congestion at the country's biggest container port.
JNPT, which handles more than 55 percent of the country's container cargo, has three terminals at its facility. JNPT operates one container terminal, while DP World and APM Terminals operate the other two.
JNPT's own container terminal was operating at more than 120 percent capacity following the strike and cargo was also diversified to APM's own port at Pipavav.
Employees of Gateway Terminal, which is operated by APM Terminals, have been protesting against the company's decision to hire 11 "outsiders". Local employees say people from their group can fill the new positions but the management decided otherwise, a senior official at JNPT said.
Since May this year, private operators operating two major container terminals at JNPT had been going slow on container handling at the port after the Tariff Authority of India slashed tariff at both the facilities in March.
According to sources, the slowdown initiated by both the operators, DP world and APM terminals and the strike at APM's facility led to more congestion at the port.
